Eleanor is FIVE!

Eleanor is five years old! It's amazing. When you see your children every day, it always seems like a surprise when suddenly they've hit another milestone that has been a long time in coming, but feels like it happened overnight. This one feels like such a big one to me, though, because she is our oldest and it is heralding significant change here. She is exiting toddlerhood/preschooler age into school age. In fact, Eleanor starts Kindergarten in a week and a half! She is so excited. Eleanor has also lost two teeth - her bottom middle two. She knows how to ride a two-wheeler bike, can swim a little bit, taking breaths (though still has lots of room for improvement), and can read simple words and some sight words. She can count to 59 (and to 100 with a little help). She loves to dance (which she shows quite an aptitude for) and be active. She tries her hardest at everything she attempts and generally does fairly well. She sleeps about 11 hours each night from 7:30 pm - 6:30 am and takes an afternoon nap about 33% of the time - though if she doesn't nap, she plays in her room for about 2 hours each afternoon from 1:00 pm - 3:00 pm. There are still a few words or phrases that she says wrong, but that we find so endearing that we don't correct:
- Shredding water (instead of treading)
- Glittering (instead of littering)

This girl has such a heart for her siblings, and though she and Jane fight a fair amount, when it really comes down to it, she loves and protects her sister. Eleanor is a leader, doing what she likes to do regardless of what others do, including playing by herself if others don't want to do what she's doing. She has a huge imagination, and loves to play "family" and dress up. She also uses a British accent when she's playing her imaginary games, which came out of nowhere but is kind of hilarious. Her favorite color is "purple, blue, pink" and she says she wants to be a ballerina and mom when she grows up.

We love this girl! Happy 5th birthday, Eleanor!!

Eleanor at one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten, eleven, twelve, fifteen, and eighteen months old.
Eleanor at two, three, three and a half, four, and four and a half years old.